Owners who enjoy the advantages of four stroke outboard boat motors are quickly frustrated by the problems they present when it comes time to change the crankcase oil. It is well known and understood that four stroke engines require periodic replacement of crankcase oil.
A considerable frustration comes at oil change time from the location of the crankcase drain plug. Most often, the boat will be in the water with the motor mounted to the transom. The drain plug is situated along the engine drive shaft housing, out over the water and behind the boat. The plug is typically a screw or bolt that simply threads into the crankcase that must be removed in order to drain the oil. If the motor is left on the boat, this must be accomplished by leaning over the engine and positioning oneself in a precarious manner to remove the drain plug.
Then the problem becomes how to collect the draining oil. There is no spout or any form of collection device that will facilitate collection of the draining oil. It typically dribbles down the driveshaft housing and drips in any number of locations into the water below, regardless of attempts to catch it. Environmental regulations and common sense dictate that the oil not be allowed simply to drain into the adjacent water. Thus, the engine must either be removed from the boat and taken to a place where the crankcase oil can be adequately dealt with, or the entire boat must be removed to an adequate facility. This is a frustrating and time consuming experience, especially when the task of changing the oil in the motor is otherwise such a easy and quickly performed task.
Thus, there has been an existing and long-felt need for some form of apparatus by which the oil draining procedure may be accomplished quickly and safely with the motor mounted on the boat and the boat in the water, and without chance that the oil will drain into the water.
The present invention, as will be understood below, provides a unique and unobvious solution to the above problems.